Socio-Economic Integration of Refugees from Ex-Yugoslavia into the US Society

The United States and many other developed countries have been built on immigration. Refugees and immigrants in all their roles make indispensable contributions to American economy and they compose an increasingly essential part of the US workforce.However, the influx of more migrants in search of safety, better life and work in the developed world continues to create deep social and political cleavages. The refugee group that will be the focus of interest in this paper are Ex-Yugoslavs living in Boston area,primarily those coming from the war stricken regions such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The wars in ex-Yugoslavia took place in the period of 1991 to 2002, ending with the conflicts in Kosovo and Macedonia. The said crisis has generated massive flows of refugees that went in one part to Western Europe and for the other to the US, Canada and Australia. My aim is to find out how these refugees accommodate to the new environment, what are the best practices and main obstacles that facilitate or hinder their everyday life and integration into the new society.